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MILLBROOK – Kelvin Stokes Jr., had a pretty good idea of what to expect when he showed up for the Rivals250 Underclassmen camp at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Fla. After working out at Vanderbilt and Auburn earlier in the summer, he understood the challenge of competing against older, more established stars.

"At the Vanderbilt camp, they were pretty excited about me and at the Auburn camp they were pretty excited about me," he said. "It's way different (at those camps) because it's like a college camp. When you go to the Rivals camp, you're trying to do your best because you're trying to get ranked. But I pretty much knew what I had to do.

"It went well. The stadium was pretty big. I just tried to go out there and do the best of my ability. I'm probably going to be the youngest out there so I'm trying to prove a lot, that I belong out there."

Now you can find Stokes' name on a Rivals site just like the big-name recruits. The difference is, he's just a ninth grader at Stanhope Elmore who hasn't even earned a starting job for the Mustangs just yet.

"He'll be practicing with us and if he's the best one, he'll start," Stanhope Elmore coach Jeff Foshee said. "He's going to get an opportunity and he's going to travel with us on Friday nights, as of right now."

Stokes started gaining attention last year by participating in showcases for underclassmen, but working out in the Jacksonville Jaguars' stadium earlier this month at a Rivals camp suddenly boosted the freshman to a whole different level in the recruiting world.

"I thought it was a great experience for him to go against the competition that was there," said his father, Stanhope Elmore girls basketball coach Kelvin Stokes. "He was going up against guys from all over the country, going against 6-foot-5, 300-pound guys that were already committed. Just seeing where he stands, going into the ninth grade, he was one of only two or three Class of 2018 kids that were there and there were about 210 kids there from all over the country.

"That was the biggest thing, just the competition and him raising his bar. When I saw him jump up there at the front of the group, just like he was a Class of 2015 kid, I just felt like he was ready. He grew up at a lot of camps he went to and this Rivals 250 put him up there mentally knowing he can compete at the highest level with all these guys."

Stokes was one of only two freshmen from Alabama at the July 12 camp and one of only 10 players from this state, joining junior defensive back Patrick Hall of Hoover; junior defensive lineman Isaiah Hall of Glenwood School; junior linebackers P.J. Blue of Jemison, Ben Davis of Gordo and Tre Threat of Spanish Fort; sophomore linebacker Markail Benton of Central-Phenix City; freshman quarterback Jack West of Saraland; and junior tight end Julian Jones of Hazel Green.

Only eight freshmen were invited to participate in the Rivals250 camp. In addition to Stokes and West, the others invited included defensive backs Tyreke Johnson of Jacksonville, Fla., and Brendan Radley-Hiles of Porter Ranch, Calif.; offensive lineman Will Lawrence of Germantown, Tenn.; quarterbacks Ben Batson of Central, S.C., and Tyler Desue of Virginia Beach, Va.; and running back Nolan Edmonds of Smyrna, Ga.

"He's always been the puppy at all the events he's been at," his father said. "I was just surprised he jumped up to the front because he knew he was ready. Going to the Vanderbilt camp and the Auburn camp, and the coaches there were high on him, kind of prepared him for this experience."

The younger Stokes might have had an advantage in that he doesn't follow all the recruiting news so he didn't know the reputation of the older players he was competing against.

"It was real fun because they gave us a lot of stuff," he said. "Cleats, socks, a shirt. It shows that I have the ability to be good against any grade level of guys."